1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of hardware and equipment. More particularly, this invention relates to a tool support assembly that hangs from a line, such as a cable, conduit, and/or pipe, and that positions a tool in a desired location on the tool support assembly.
2. Description of Related Art
Oftentimes, an individual, such as a technician in the telecommunications, electrical, and/or plumbing industry, needs supplemental lighting to perform a repair, installation, and/or other work related activity. For example, telecommunications technicians tend to work after daylight hours aloft telephone poles for extended time periods sometimes provisioning and/or using stranded serving terminals. These terminals are typically mounted at an elevated position (e.g., stranded from a wire, cable, and/or conduit of the telephone pole or mounted to an elevated site on a building or other structure) for distributing communication signals from one or more routing cables to customers via drop wires. Oftentimes, these terminals are often poorly illuminated, a dark color, and lack an outlet for power.
To provide additional lighting, the telecommunications technician working on the terminal may have to use one hand or both to support himself/herself atop the pole and position a light source, such as a flashlight, on a work area and use the other hand to work on the terminal. This scenario tends to be dangerous and may often take the technician longer to complete work. Sometimes the technician needs to use both hands to perform the work, but also needs the additional light source. In these cases, the technician may creatively try to position the light source, such as by holding a butt end of a flashlight in his/her mouth or by taping the flashlight to the terminal and/or to the cable or by positioning the flashlight in between his/her legs and squeezing them together. Additionally, when the technician can not use both hands to perform the work, such as when the technician must use one hand to carry, support, and/or aim the flashlight, then the technician only has the other free hand to perform the work, and, consequently, the efficiency and quality of the work may be less.
Conventional approaches have failed to solve these aforementioned problems. For example, one approach to provide a portable, positionable light source is to use a light bulb and socket in a protective cage with a long extension cord. However, a power supply, such as AC power, is not always available. Other approaches for providing a portable lighting source require a level, flat surface area to either “clamp”, “clip”, and/or “screw” the light support to the surface. Still, another approach has been to provide a portable light source that magnetically attaches to a surface. However, many areas proximate to a work site, such as the telecommunications pole and the terminal are not equipped with an appropriate surface to secure these light sources.
In addition to the above mentioned shortcomings, many portable light sources are inadequate for technicians working with electricity at a suspended work site. For example, conventional portable light sources tend to be made of a conductive or partially conductive material that presents an electrical risk to the technician and/or to the work site (e.g., creating a short circuit). Another shortcoming is that conventional portable light sources tend to be large and/or bulky and, thus, create a potential hazard when the technician transports the device.